A new season is upon us. And from the looks of it, this is going to be a fantastic season, thanks to a whole lot of new energy being shown by small market teams. Washington Nationals are the team to beat. Some are excited about Kansas City Royals. Tampa Bay Rays are always exciting. And Oakland Athletics are the perennial upstarts. As someone who enjoys the game as much as I do, I am simply excited to have these guys around, just to smack around big spenders in their respective leagues and remind them – money is not enough, you need youth, energy and talent.

That brings me to the New York Yankees. I am a fan. Scratch that – I am a huge fan. And 2013 is going to be the year we, as fans are going to have our faith tested. We have become spoiled by the Yankees who kept investing on their on-field product and making us happy. It doesn’t seem so this year, thanks to some of the decisions of the past. Our opening day team is made of retreads and rejects from other teams. Our hitting machine is broken. The only saving grace is that we have a handful of good pitchers. Mariano Rivera is pitching in his last season.

The rest of the team doesn’t inspire faith in me. What has been disappointing is the Yankee management. I respect their decision to control costs and thus save some luxury tax dollars in the future. However, what I don’t like is that they decided to give opportunities to the likes of Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay. I would rather lose with our minor league players and come last instead of guys who have been consistently mediocre.

Anyway as I said, 2013 is going to test our faith. I don’t mind. I started rooting for the Yankees in early 1990s and they were not quite a championship machine. Win or lose, I will still be here! Now I am hoping that we get our stars back as fast as possible, because once we do, I know we are going to be in the race. And that’s all I want as a fan!

Playball!!!

Here are some interesting pre-season articles:

• In 2013, MLB races will go down to the wire
• How A-Rod is taking the Yankees down with him
• End of an era for the Yankees
• Can a cat make better predictions that baseball bloggers?
• My ex-boss and Red Sox fan David Churbuck on his team and his minor league team.

PS: I have a baseball fantasy team and at this point I don’t feel too confident about my auto-picks. Any suggestions — please feel free to share them with me.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.